Colin Steele" writes:

>Welcome Lance!

>Here's a few suggestions:

>* Have a character's weapon break in the middle of a fight. It can 
>really 
>change things if you go to swing your sword at that goblin only to 
>find that 
>the darn thing's snapped off at the hilt....

>* Have it start to rain. I mean RAIN. Visibility goes down, footing 
>gets 
>unstable, weapon grips get slippery...you get the idea.

>* Above all, you ARE the AM...if you do a random encounter and it 
>looks like 
>everyone's going to get slaughtered, you as the AM reserve the right 
>to make 
>something happen (if you so choose) to spare the lives of your poor 
>adventurers. Have a talking grizzly bear chase the nasties away, etc. 
>Use 
>your imagination and have fun with it! :)

>Hopefully, from the above suggestions, you can see that you don't 
>neccessarily HAVE to have a bunch of monsters swoop down on your party 
>in 
>order to make things interesting for them. Imagination is the key. All 
>the 
>rest is just ink on paper.... Have fun!

All very good suggestions, Colin.  I would add that the use of NPC Once
Born can easily make things more difficult (or easy) and interesting for
the players.  Should the group happen upon an orphan whom they decide to
help, the perspective of combat, or the avoidance of, will change quite a
bit.  Perhaps the orphan is a child or a cripple who cannot or should not
fight and the team will have to shield from danger.  This should change
their tactics and make things more difficult in battle.

The NPC could be someone of great import whom others are after for one
reason or another.  Perhaps he has something others want like money,
jewels, important information, etc.  Since LightRaiders are forbidden to
kill Once Born, it will be more difficult to subdue all the brigands,
spys, thugs, or armed troops who could crop up.

A reoccurring villain (someone hunting the party perhaps) or even a
sympathetic patron who helps the group in some way will spice things up.

Sometimes, even a side trip to help another RaidTeam in the area can be
used as a diversion to make things more difficult or change the flow of
play so that the team gets a break or avoids an early demise.

Joe R